Electric educational device



Feb. 28, 1950 P. V. Mcc s 2,499,323

ELECTRIC EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Filed March 17, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet l PERRYV. M CASH INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS P. V. M CASH ELECTRIC EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Feb. 28, 1950 FiledMarch 17, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 "Illllw W M NQ Qv PERRY V.. M CASHINVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Feb. 28, 1950 v. MOCASH 2,499,323

ELECTRIC EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Filed March 17, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 P1 V.CAS H INVENTOR.

Patented Pet. 28, 195$ UNITE D STAT ES F F l C Ennsommczunnomzromnmnvron Perry VsMoCa sh, sam'egwash.

Aipplication Marclr 17, 1947iSbrial-No. 735938" (oras es:

2=Glaims.

.1 My present invention 'relates to that general class of-"devicesuse'dasaids in teaching the use I of the alphabet and, morerparticularlwtospelling.

Specifically, my device is an electric educational device.

It has longbeen recognized that if eh'ildrencan be'given preliminaryinstruction during: their pretion of younger children. I -havethenarranged 'for the forming'of words and I have' also-arranged thealphabet initsnormal sequence oneachof the various alphabet wheels-ordrumsI employ,

so that education may be' carried t'o' the practical lim'it'of suchpre-school trai-ning.

In the past, many devices" have been created which have for the generalobject the same fundamental purpose. However, experience has Jproventhat too many of. these devicesare treated :iust astoys which are playedwith for a limited period andthensdiscarded. It is to-overcome thiscondition that I have. provided ta=machine which is quite-in step withmodern times,;- and L have 'employed .electricalmeansfor the operationof thevarious elements ofmydevice. U-This arrangement presents. an 'old:subject, but presents. it in aninteresting manner'whichlmakes itpossible to sustain interest in theydevicel and through its operation toprovide ca truly educational device.

The' principal object of my present invention,

lthereforeyis to provide: an electrically operated spelling aid.

A further obj ect of myv present invention is' to provide anelectrically operated spelling aid which, because of: the functionin inresponse to pressing the proper contact; buttons, maintains the interestof a small child in its operation.

'A' further object of mypresentiinvention is to providemeans wherebywords or phrases-canabe spelled outand-then, when the entire group'o'fletters For words have been formed, the pressing of' a clearancebutton-clears. the whole machine fforsubsequent operation.

'A further object'of' my invention is'toiprovide anselectro-mechanicalteaching aid which is characterized by simple constructionv lendingitself vwell= to economical manufacture to the end that .theelementsofprice tothe :usercanrbe kept-within the: boundsiof theordinarypurchaser.

i 2 t Aiifurther' object: of my. present invention is to :provide"anrel'ectro-mechanical device which isso :arranged that. it-wil1 excitethe curiosity of a i llustrateithe construction'of the device.

oliligzzsziaisz'aiside elevational view of my'sdevice,

inxrsection, showing 1 the essential functional elementsiioreone. unit.of my device.

;=:Eig..,f3 :isria schematic wiring diagram oflmy .tideviizer .:.Fig-.:4s:is .ac'perspective view showing the out- Ward-appearance of mydev-ice with-aworid set up on the machine.

';'Fig.i:5::isr.a1 :cross' sectional "view. takensubstanitiallyialongithesline 5- 5 of Fig. 2'.

FigLi 6-" isi: a fragmentary view showing: certain parts-asillustrateldzin Fig. '2 but showing themiin'eidifferent.phaseroftheirroperation.

iBeferr-ing more particularly to the disclosure intherdrawings,atheunumeral I i] designatesan alphaibetiwheel-i'or'ldifum.iTh'is 'wheel is provided with aidrumdace 'l 2;.upon whichis disclosedthe oomplete alphabet spaced around the .drum in its "normal order; orthe drum may have numerals, *eitherzRomanvor Arabic, again intheirnormal inumericalronder. The letters or numerals are Lpreferably aslarge as a convenient size drum willflpermit oil-and are disposed sothat they may berproperly viewed through: openings or windows -M. .cutinthe upper portion-of housing I6;

Insmy present-drawings, .I have shown-four -such.drums orwhee1s,:although itshould be ap- :parent that. 'any desired number ofthese can be employed. Four'dru-ms-will usually provide sufficientlatitude for pre-school children and it is a convenient commercial sizefor my device.

The various wheels Hl'are preferably all of the .sa-me diameterandco-axially aligned for structural reasons. Each wheel is provided withits own supporting shaft i8, which is journalled in removable 'journalmembers. 19, norm-ally arranged to support one end of two shafts 18after lithe showing probably best illustrated in Fig. 1.

wEa-chr wheel' H) hasformed near its periphery, or omit,aapluralityofteeth or outstanding lugs 20, there being one such lug for each letteror digit on the drum. This arrangement is to facilitate the step-by-steprevolution of the wheel by the mechanism as will be latter explained.

In order to revolve wheel in a step-by-step arrangement, I have providedthe motor shown generally at 22. This consists of the motor winding 23and the pole pieces 24 and 26. Disposed between pole pieces 24 and 26 isrotor 28. Rotor 28 is mounted for partial rotation upon rotor shaft 29.Pivotably secured at 38 to rotor 28 is latch member 32. Latch 32 has theouter engaging portion 33 which has sufficient vertical extent so itwill fit loosely between adjacent teeth or lugs 28, the purpose being toprovide, as will probably best be seen in Figs. 2 and 6, a means forengaging one of the lugs 28 and then, when moved by the rotor as viewedin Fig. 6, to revolve wheel 98 one space, and to provide by the width ofthe engaging portion 33 a stop, so that only one tooth will be moved foreach energizing of motor 22. The movement of latch 32 about pivot 30 islimited by means of the stop pin 34 and the two co-acting upstandinglugs 35 and 36 which are formed as part of latch 32.

Wheel l8, while free to revolve on its shaft I8, is under control of thecoil spring 38 which is wound up as the wheel is advanced in use by thefunctioning of motor 22 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig.2, and when the proper setting for the drum or wheel has been achieved,the wheel may be released and spring 38 will return the wheel to itsnormal position which is a blank space on the wheel preceding the letterA or the numeral 1. To hold wheel [8 in any desired position when motor22 is not energized, I have provided a stop member 48. This stop ispivoted at M and is provided with a counterbalancing weight 42 soarranged that the stop member normally will assume the position shown inFig. 2 and become a stopbearing upon lugs 20 and preventing a reversalin the direction of rotation of drum I8.

When the problem or word has been completed and it is desired to clearthe machine, energizing of electro-magnet M rocks lever 45 about itsfulcrum 4T, lifting the end portion 48, which engages the weighted endof stop 48, and thus moves stop 48 to the left, as viewed in Fig. 2, andwithdraws the upper portion of the stop from engagement with lugs orteeth 28. This will permit spring 38 to take control of drum l8 andreturn it to normal.

To insure the complete removal of stop 40 from the path of lugs 20, Iprovide a magnetic armature 49. This strip armature is pivoted to theframe of motor 22 and will be attracted and displaced upwardly each timemotor 22 is energized. A very pronounced clicking sound is produced whenthe armature abuts the pole piece of motor 22 and this has been found toadd to the users interest in the device. The free end of the armaturehas a downwardly directed hook which is adapted to engage notch 53 ofstop 48 each time magnet a l is energized and swings stop 40sufficiently to the left, as viewed in Fig. 2 and Fig. 6, to make itpossible,

Power at reduced voltages is supplied to my device by means oftransformer 58. The circuit of this transformer is shown in Fig. 3 and Ithus provide optimum voltages for operating the different parts of mydevice.

I provide two colored lights as and 52, light 5! being energized eachtime motor 22 is energized. Light 52 is an indication that releasebutton 64 has been depressed and it continues to burn until all thewheels I!) have returned to normal and have operated their respectivecircuit breakers 54.

Circuit breaker 54 is mounted upon pedestal 56 which supports bearingsor journals l9. Circuit breaker 54 is normally in contact and providesone of the conductors for the current which flows out through electriccontact 58. The wheel [8 is under urgence of spring 38, which in turn isanchored at one end to lug 68, and at its other end is secured to shaftl8.

As soon as wheel I8 has been revolved to its normal position of rest, anextended lug 62 will strike the end of circuit breaker 54 and carry itaway from contact 58, while the wheel will remain in this position dueto spring 38, and the circuit will be broken at this point. The extendedlug 62 also serves a second purpose in that upon complete rotation ofthe wheel It), said lug 62 again strikes the end of circuit breaker 54on the opposite side and is thereby prevented from turning further, thusprotecting the springs 38 from damage.

It will be noted that in Fig. 3 I have provided a plurality of pushbutton switches, as the release button 64 and the wheel operating button66. These switches are preferably of the multipleleaf type, asillustrated in Fig. 2, wherein pressure on the button will complete acircuit through the three leaves as 68, 69 and 10.

In order to provide a convenient reference to aid the child in formingwords, I have provided a plurality of removable slides 12 which areengageable within the rabbeted out slideway 14, and on which I imprintnormally a name and a picture corresponding to the same. It will benoted in Fig. 4, for instance, that the letters C, A, T, are followed bya picture of a cat as at 16. As it is desirable to have a plurality ofsuch slides, I have provided the slide retaining box 18 for theconvenient storing of these slides.

Method of operation In operating my device, the first step is to startwith the transformer 58 connected to a source of electric current. Then,on the assumption that the Word cat is to be spelled out, slide 12 isplaced in slideway 14, after the showing of Fig. 4. Here the word "catis spelled out with each letter in substantial alignment with thehousing opening [4 in which the respective letters should appear. Then,in the first instance, button 66, in alignment with the letter C ispressed. This will cause the letter A to appear in the lefthand openingM. Then, as the button is pressed the second time, the letter "B willappear and finally on the third pressing of its corresponding button 66the letter C will appear and, as that is in alignment with the C onstrip 12, the operator should then go to the second button 66 as viewedfrom the left. Here, a single depression of the button will cause drumI0 to revolve one step to bring the letter A into view. This completesthe first two letters of the word and the operator then moves to thethird or center button as viewed. Here, the button must be depresseduntil the letter T appears. This will require 20 depressions of theappropriate switch contact 66 passing over all of the letters from A toT, which letters will appear in their normal sequence in the alphabet.This completes the spelling of the words cat and it has been found thatsuch experiences quickly enable a child to thoroughly understand thealphabet and to gradually acquire by repetition the correct spelling ofthe more common words.

By reference to Fig. 2' the mechanical and electrical operationsrequired for the preceding sequence has been the operation of threedifferent motors 22 the number of times equivalent to the position ofthe various letters as they appear in the alphabet, of the lettersspelling the word cat. In the last letter T it will require 20 movementsor separate energizings of motor 22. Each time rotor 28 will make apartial revolution to the position shown in Fig. 6, and will move drum[9 the space of each lug 29 for each time it is so ener ized. Duringeach of these operations stop 49 must be re-engaged under theappropriate lug 20 so as to hold drum l against the backward turningeffort of the spring 38.

If the operator then desires to clear the machine he depresses button 64which is on the extreme right in Fig. 4 and, in so doing, he energizescoil M. When coil 44 attracts its armature 45, the electro-switch 89closes a circuit which lights lamp 52, and a seal-in circuit across thecontacts of button 84 thus making it necessary to depress button 65 onlymomentarily. In addition, this movement of armature 45, through means oflever 45, withdraws stop 40 from its contacting position with respect tolug 20, causes armature 49 to engage notch 53, and permits spring 38 tospin drum H1 backward with respect to the arrow shown in Fig. 2 untilthe elongated lug 62 finally comes into contact with the circuit breaker54. When this occurs, the current flow is interrupted through contact 58and electro-switch 80, which was closed when button 64 was firstdepressed and which made it only necessary to press and release button 63, which is now free of attraction by coil M and due to its inherentspring action opens, and the machine is now fully cleared for futureproblems or words.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the abovedescription and the disclosure in the drawings, that the inventioncomprehends a novel construction of an electrical educational device.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An electric educational device, consisting of: a plurality of axiallyaligned drums having equispaced letters of the alphabet imprinted ontheir peripheral surfaces; individual supporting shafts for said drums;standards adapted to position and support said shafts; a series ofoutstanding lugs disposed about the peripher of said drums; a pivotedlatch member for each of said drums adapted to revolve said drums in astep-by-step manner; electric motor means adapted to operate said latchmembers and to form a first electromagnet when energized; acounterrotation spring for each drum disposed to resist the turningeffort of said latch; a pivoted stop member for each drum disposed tonormally prevent counterrotation of said drum; an armature pivoted tosaid first electromagnet having a downwardly directed hook adapted tosecure said stop member when it has moved into its non-operativeposition; a second electro-magnet adapted to move said stop into anon-operative position; a first electric signaling means adapted toindicate actuation of said electric motor means; a second electricsignaling means adapted to indicate the actuation of said secondelectro-magnet; first electric switching means adapted to energize saidelectric motor means, said first electro-magnet, and said first electricsignaling means; second electric switching means adapted to energizesaid second electro-magnet and said second electric sig-v naling means;a holding circuit adapted to short circuit said second electricswitching means; a circuit breaker for each drum, supported by saidstandards, adapted to be engaged by a lug on said drum to prevent morethan one revolution of said drum, and additionally adapted tode-energize said second electro-magnet when the drum has been returnedto its starting position; electric current supply means for said device;an enclosing housing for said equipment; a flanged slidew-ay on theupper face of said housing; and a slide having imprinted thereon lettersforming words.

2. An electric educational device, consisting of: a plurality of axiallyaligned drums having equispaced letters of the alphabet imprinted ontheir peripheral surfaces; individual supporting shafts for said drums;standards adapted to position and support said shafts; a series ofoutstanding lugs disposed about the periphery of said drums; a pivotedlatch member for each of said drums adapted to revolve said drums in astep-by-step manner; electric motor means adapted-to operate said latchmembers and to form a first electromagnet when energized; acounterrotation spring for each drum disposed to resist the turningeffort of said latch; a pivoted stop member for each drum disposed tonormally prevent counterrotation of said drum; an armature pivoted tosaid first electro-magnet having a downwardly di-. rected hook adaptedto secure said stop member when it has moved into its non-operativeposition; a second electro-magnet adapted to move said stop into anon-operative position; a first electric signaling means adapted toindicate actuation of said drums; a second electric signaling meansadapted to indicate the functioning of said second electro-magnet; firstelectric switching means adapted to energize said electric motor means,said first electro-magnet, and said first electric signaling means;second electric switching means adapted to energize said secondelectro-magnet and said second electric signaling means; a seal-inelectric circuit adapted to short circuit said second electric switchingmeans; a circuit breaker for each drum, supported by said standards,adapted to be engaged by a lug on said drum to prevent more than onerevolution of said drum, and additionally adapted to de-energize saidsecond electro-magnet when the drum has been returned to its startingposition; and an enclosing housing for said equipment.

PERRY V. McCASH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 366,821 Dougherty July 19, 1887371,815 Bodey Oct. 18, 1887 465,834 Clarkson Dec. 29, 1891 2,060,674Hicks Nov. 10, 1936 2,155,929 Breitenstein Apr. 25, 1939 2,281,262Breitenstein Apr. 28, 1942

